In Luke 7:36-50, there are not just two people—one falsely righteous and one clearly unrighteous—Jesus is also there. Jesus is attending to them both, hopeful for peace for them both. Indeed, the final words of Jesus to the woman in the story are these: “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (Luke 7:50). Jesus has invited—and he has been invited. What he offers to this woman is a peaceful departure, even as he departs peacefully from Simon’s house.
An Invitation to Depart
I can understand departure on a deeply personal level. Three years ago, I left my home of nearly 20 years to set out on a new journey. I crossed over a threshold to come to a new place, invited to a new home. Jesus has come with me, and I am grateful. Through this story, I can recognize elements of my own invitation to depart and to make my home in a different place.
Through Jesus’ invitation to depart, I have come to realize that God is not a concept—God is a person. God’s invitation is an invitation to meet a person, Jesus, and that person is good and trustworthy and true. And when we recognize the relationship as personal, we begin to see that God’s invitation happens in concert with what we want most deeply for ourselves—freedom, peace, wholeness, and joy. But if there’s anything the story teaches us, it is that God will not force us. God’s invitation to come—and to leave—is not compulsory, it is compassionate. This woman comes to Jesus when she is ready. Jesus does not force her to come, nor does he force Simon to leave the house in which he finds himself. He simply offers to them both a word of grace.
The Things We Take With Us
On the eve of my own departure, I made some tangible decisions. I decided to part with those pieces of furniture that broke a long time ago but that I have kept holding onto because I haven’t been able to let them go; but I decided to keep my old running shoes box, in which I’ve kept nearly every card and letter that’s been written to me because, after all, no one runs alone. And so it is with every departure—there are things we take with us and things we leave behind.
Departing in peace means we go as God’s dearly loved child. The words spoken of Jesus at his baptism are true of us too: “You are my Son (or, you are my daughter), the Beloved, with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). And so we do what Jesus did—we stay close to the Father’s heart, because that is where love dwells (1 John 4:7-8). And so we are to set out on a journey where we will keep on finding—and being found—by God. And so there will be any number of doors upon which we knock, looking for him; there will be any number of places, many of them unexpected, in which we will be found by him. There are houses we have yet to enter and depart, alabaster jars we have not yet filled and emptied, kisses of gratitude and tears of contrition and joy yet to baptize us. Undoubtedly, this will not be my first invitation to depart from a place in peace. After all, Jesus keeps on saving me every day. Jesus keeps on sending me in peace every day.
Departing in Peace
Going in peace means that I let go of the broken things that I’ve been holding onto for far too long. I leave behind the pious Simon inside of myself that says that Jesus ought not be near my broken places. I leave behind the notion that Simon’s word about my brokenness is the final word, because as long as I make my way to the house where he is, Jesus keeps on saving me in all the ways in which I need saving. Our brokenness is not the final word, merely a word. The final word is beloved. I am grateful for the ways in which God continues to heal the unrighteous woman and the pious Simon inside of me. Gratitude is the only response to the Gospel.
As we go in peace, we go knowing that we do not go all by ourselves, nor do we go only for ourselves. In my departure, I carry with me all the ones who represent the One to me, and I become one of the ones who represent the One to others. Like Jesus, I am called to dwell with broken people in the broken homes in which they find themselves, offering a word of peace.
This article is part one of a three-part series: